Back to Reality

Well it's back to reality for this mom. After ten weeks of pure joy and bliss, it's back to the daily grind. Thank goodness I love my job and the people I work with, or I don't think I could have made it through this transition. Leaving her for 9 hours a day is one of the hardest things I've ever done, even though I know she's being well cared for. Right now Jeff is taking her to daycare in the morning and I'm going in as early as possible (630 or 700am) so I can pick her up as early as possible. My boss is completely flexible, and doesn't care what hours I work so long as I get my work done. What a blessing that has been! As much as I would love to be a stay at home mom someday, working at this point in my life is probably best for all of us. I think I would be a lazy slob if I was at home all day. I had this long list of projects I wanted to accomplish during my leave and books I wanted to read and did I do any of it - nope. I laid around all day playing with my baby and watching reruns of Little House on the Prarie and Who's the Boss. How is that for productive:) I definitely function better with a little more structure in my life.

Did I cry my first day back at work though? Surprisingly no. I choked up a few times, but made it through without shedding any real tears. However, the same could not be said for the 4 days before the big day. I don't think I stopped crying from Thursday to Sunday. My new hormones are relentless when it comes to dealing with strong emotions. For example, when she had to get her 2 month shots - I started crying as soon as I got to the doctor's office and did not stop until we got back out to the car. I'm sure the people in the waiting room thought something was seriously wrong with my child. Emery, on the other hand, was a doll as usual, and only cried when they gave her the shots. I'm sure she was wondering what on earth was wrong with her mother. Oh yes, I am definitely turning into one of "those" moms.

So how is life with a baby you ask? I can't imagine it any other way at this point. I have truly loved and savored every minute of it. It certainly helps that she is such a good baby - we just love her to death! And athough we can't seem to figure out who she looks like just yet, she is starting to show personality traits of her daddy. She's been smiling since 4 weeks and talking up a storm since 8 weeks, much to my delight. She's a good sleeper and only cries when she is hungry, tired or gassy. And her cry is still so cute - if you even call it a cry. It's more like she's complaining.

When I wasn't catching up on reruns on leave, I was enjoying visiting with some of my favorite people. My mother-in-law came over for a week, my friend Courtney from Alaska came down for a week and my cousin Shasta stayed with us for a week on her way down to her new house in New Orleans. We took two trips over the break as well - a long weekend to DeRidder, LA to visit Jeff's family and a trip to New Orleans to visit my cousin. Emery did great both times, although she wasn't nearly as excited about eating beignets at the Cafe Du Monde as we were. In fact she was konked out on me the entire time!

Okay that's all for now, folks. Pictures below for anyone interested, ranging from week 6 - 10 of Emery's life.